Hidden Outbreak
by joe and james
Summary: Jessica. Pursued by a monstrous creature she designed, and alone in a city where the dead walk. all she can do is pray for a miracle, and hope for a friend in the midst of all this chaos.
1. Rescued

Hiking down her dress, Alice's pale hands pressed it flat over her legs. The cold air made her shiver slightly, and her hands trembled at the thought of what she had just done. Behind her was Declan Armstrong, her sleazy boss who had been making passes at her ever since she had joined the company. And although the pay at 'Raccoon car dealership' was kind of crappy, and the work mates left much to be desired, she needed a job in this small little city. So every day she had bit her tongue and not given Declan the sexual harassment suit he deserved because she had to provide not only for herself, but for her brother too. Adam was only fifteen, and Alice had tried her hardest to make sure living in Raccoon city was a new start for him, away from the bullshit and ruin their alcoholic parents had brought them. But three days ago Adam had gone camping in the woods with a few friends, and some kind of bear had attacked them. The police had come to her door at two thirty. Almost a week later, Alice had barely recovered from the shock. So instead of finding a nice counselor to talk out her feelings with she had got drunk of tequila every night and had fucked her boss in an alley between the dealership and some old hunting store no one used. Feeling just a little degraded, Alice turned to walk away hoping to get out of that alley and to go back to her bed, where she could sleep her hangover away. But Declan wasn't one to let her go that easily

"Come back beautiful…" he crooned after her, and Alice didn't know if it was the tone of his voice or the alcohol, but she strode back to him…her heels making striding just a little bit harder, but she managed okay. The cold air and gross panting in her ear had sobered her up mostly.

"Listen asshole, I think that forgetting this whole thing would be the best course of action for the two of us." _'I know I sure would like to'_ Alice added in her head, keeping her viscous comments to herself. After all he may have been annoying, inexperienced and lacking but he was still her boss. But of course him being Declan Armstrong her couldn't let them part on semi polite terms, and as he minced past her towards the exit of the alley he said sarcastically

"Don't sweat it…I've had worse" before walking further away from her. Annoyed and a little too drunk to run after him and beat his face into the floor, Alice settled at picking up a near by stone and throwing it in his direction. And though the stone missed its desired target, and sailed past within an inch of his face it had the wanted result. Declan turned and glared at her waving his podgy little finger at her as he called her things like a hoe, and some even worse words she had been brought up to never say. On a roll now with added confidence having sex with a girl way out of your league can only give you, Declan shouted to a man staggering about in the mouth of the alley

"Hey you! Yeah…drunk guy! Come over here, free ride on the Raccoon city express". Laughing, the fact that he had turned to face Alice allowed her to knock him off balance with a solid push, and send him careening into the drunken man. Proud of herself, Alice had expected the man to start a drunken brawl with her middle aged boss, or to be sick on him. One of a hundred comical things that would have taught that sleaze a lesson, but instead the haggard man took a bite out of Declan's shoulder. Shouting out in pain, Declan made the mistake of pushing the man away whilst his teeth were still in his flesh, and the drunk fell away with a huge chunk of Declan's flesh in his mouth. Blood pouring down his white shirt, Declan stumbled forward before dropping to his knees his face that had once been red and staring intently at her breasts, was almost as pale as his shirt had been.

Before Declan could regain his footing the drunk was upon him again, grabbing him from behind and pulling him into a sort of embrace, where his grubby teeth could get a hold of Declan's throat. With an audible crunch the man bit into Alice's bosses jugular, damaging the artery and causing crimson blood to fly from the wound, some spinning through the air and landing on Alice's gray heels. A small, wordless scream escaped the blonde's lips causing the attacker to glance up with large white eyes at her. Realizing her mistake, Alice clutched her hand to her mouth but for nothing as the man dropped her now lifeless boss to the floor and rose to his feet, and started taking some slow drunken movements towards the girl.

"Please…U.. I mean…you can have my uh…money. Here, here's my purse" Alice held her matching gray clutch bag out towards the man, hoping whatever drug he was on could be bought with the money she had in her purse. Alice had watched a self defense documentary on how to defend yourself and without any pepper spray, Alice resorted to giving him everything without a struggle. Taking a daring look back, Alice saw that if she backed up much further she would be against a wall, and would have no where to run. She knew that if she got into that position then she would be definitely dead.

"Stay Back!" the petite blond shouted at her attacker

"I swear to fucking God stay back!" she screamed once more, trying to sound like she was in a position of authority but getting betrayed by her eyes, the pale blue orbs looking as scared as she felt. As her got closer and closer, Alice knew that she did not want this man biting her. Not only was he looking worse for wear (some drug related illness) but he had bits of flesh stuck between his teeth and Alice could see a clot of blood on his upper lip. If he bit her she'd probably get aids and die painfully. That being if he bit her and let her live.

Her back hitting the brick wall behind her, Alice braced herself against it and prepared for an attack. When the man rushed his arms forward to grab her she brought her own up in self defense and held his back. But by the feel of the muscles in his forearms, this drug addict or whatever the hell this cannibalistic man was, he probably could bench press Alice's entire body weight. Trying to use his own arm strength against him, Alice pushed back on his lower arms with everything she had and the steel like limbs, stayed strong allowing Alice to push him away easier with a real foothold. Hearing a loud thud, Alice saw a figure move behind the staggering drunk and before she could say '_Please help me' _as she was planning to, a thunderbolt rocked through the sky and in a flash of light and blood the drunks head disappeared, the remains raining down on Alice's face and chest. Her ears ringing like someone had fired a canon right next to her , Alice realized that someone had used a shotgun to blow the mans head off. Now that was one way to cure a hangover.


	2. Saviour

With the acidic taste of bile in the back of throat, Alice stumbled past the still warm body of her boss and dropped to the floor, retching on all fours before finally releasing everything she had consumed throughout the day onto the floor. Luckily for Alice, this was basically tequila and corn flakes so it wasn't that bad. Wiping her mouth, Alice used the wall beside to steady herself, leaning heavily against it she turned back to the scene, hoping beyond hope that it was some weird alcohol induced hallucination. But the man that had saved her was still stood, watching her intently as if he was wondering if she was going to be sick again. Casting her eyes to his left a little, Alice could see the remains of her attacker. Replacing his head was a large pool of blood and chunks of flesh, and for a second Alice wondered why there wasn't more bits of flesh surrounding the body…but with grim resolution she remembered the pieces raining down on her after the man had fired the shot. Dropping her head slightly, Alice stared at her once immaculate gray dress. The blood had stained some parts so it looked like a red dress, and pieces of flesh clung to it like leeches. Her hands shaking, Alice attempted to brush those things off her dress but they clung like son's of bitches, and wouldn't come off. Her hands now slick with blood, Alice used her forearm to cover her mouth, muffling a sob that came out. Her eyes squeezed tight, Alice felt a strong hand grip her forearm and pull her along roughly, and push her through the door, that she presumed led into the hunting shop. After all that was the direction the savior had came from. Stumbling over a step, Alice uncovered her mouth and used her hands to stop her face hitting the floor. Hearing a door slam, Alice opened her eyes, and glancing around the room pushed herself to her knees.

The room was small, and Alice presumed that it was some kind of store room for the larger store outside. Letting her eyes adjust to the gloom, at what first had seemed like stacked boxes and shelves, were people. The small room was littered with five people, each vastly different but all sharing the same terrified look in their eyes…the look that was probably in Alice's eyes too. Slowly staggering to her feet, Alice attempted a smile but couldn't bring herself to do it. These strangers had saved her, but they were still strangers.

"Jen, search the lockers in the staff room try and find her some spare clothes" A voice from behind Alice commanded, and a frail looking blond girl quickly fled the room in the direction that Alice presumed was the staff room.

"Thanks I gu…" Alice began but was interrupted by a string pair of hands grabbing her, one grabbed a chunk of her hair and the other grabbed her shoulder and with force, they pushed her into a wall. Seeing stars erupt in front of her eyes, Alice felt the air flee her body as the strong push, wind her.

"Did it bite you?" a gruff female voice asked her from behind. Her voice faltering Alice managed to push out the words

"I'm not sure" before the hand holding her hair pushed her face harder into the wall

"Bitch did it bite you!?" Tears running down her face from the pain in her scalp as the iron grip kept a tight hold of her hair, Alice murmured

"no" but since the girl didn't let go of her hair she shouted

"NO! No it didn't!" and though the girl didn't let go of her, she loosened her grip and allowed Alice to push her face away from the grubby wall.

"Kim let go…" the same voice that had told the girl to fetch the clothes shouted. And with that the forceful hand unwound itself from her hair and pushed away from her.

Spinning round, Alice glared at the woman she presumed was Kim. Her clothes consisted of a pair of black knee high boots, a very short pair of shorts and a white shirt. Through the thin material, Alice could see that Kim was wearing a black bra that went perfectly with her dark skin, her thick black hair curled into a bun behind her head. She looked about twenty, and had probably been on a night out when she had met up with the others.

"You waste bullets saving some little white girl, then expect me to not check her? Are you fucking crazy!" Kim shouted at the man wielding the shotgun. Alice let her eyes wander over her savior, and she almost kept staring. About 6'3, this man had a thick head of dark hair and his pale green eyes set of his olive skin perfectly. He was wearing some pale blue jeans, and white t-shirt and to protect him from the cold a black leather jacket wrapped around his muscled arms. Stepping closer to him, so that this man was stood between her and Kim, Alice let her hand touch his forearm gently, Alice smiled at him in a way that said _'Thanks' _and it wasn't just for the whole attacked by an angry black youth thing, but the attack and…everything. His sexy Latino head nodded slightly, and Alice saw it as not only a _'no problem_' but as a dismissal. She was standing right by the door, and for some reason she presumed that this man wanted to stand next to the door. Sitting down on a box of what appeared to be rifle polish, Alice smiled at the man sitting opposite her. He was in his late fifties, and from the look on his face, he had aged a lot in the past few hours. His skin was pale, and his white hair was sticking up in a multitude of different directions. The remnants of a business suit adorned his frame, and he nodded as well. _'My my, these are a talkative bunch Alice thought sarcastically'_. Leaning against a shelving unit, Alice made herself breath evenly…she was still troubled about having dead body littered over her skin and clothes and hoped that Jen would hurry back with some clothes.

"That's Martin…he doesn't speak much" A helpful voice chirped in behind her, and turning her head slightly Alice saw it was probably the youngest person in this room. And though he looked mature, the high school football jacket gave him away. As did the dirty jeans and trainers. Everything he was wearing screamed 'High School!'.

"We were running from one of those things and it grabbed her and we…we couldn't help. She was a good lady…"

"Over there, big guy that's Louis. He's some kind of security enforcer I don't know, but he handles a shot gun well. And next to him that's Kim, but you knew that right" The young boy said with a laugh. "Then there's Jen, she's pretty shy. And me…" Sensing movement behind her, Alice turned to see that the boy had moved closer, and was offering his hand to shake

"…I'm Jay". Shaking the boys hand after wiping it on her dress to get some of the dry blood off, Alice smiled at the first kind person she had met today

"I'm Alice…" she replied, letting go and standing as Jen came back in the room. The blond was wearing a black dress suit, and seemed pretty out of place. Her clothing was immaculate. Taking a small folded pile from Jen, Alice smiled at her before walking through the door to get changed. But before she left she turned back to ay quizzically

"You said those things…but what were they?" She asked sincerely. Alice had thought she had gotten attacked by a crazy guy with a Hannibal fetish, but the way Jay had said some things was like there was a lot more of them.

"There zombies…" He replied, with a smile on his face before Alice turned away and left the room shaking her head. _'Zombies…impossible!'. _The corridor was dark, and one door frame without a door led to the main shop floor, whilst the other led to the staff room. Stepping in, Alice shuddered. The room was much colder than the corridor had been, and Alice felt familiar goose bumps rise on her arms. Pulling her gray dress over her head, Alice kicked her shoes off and padded to small bathroom at the back of the staff room. Wetting the dress, Alice used the clean bits to wipe the dark brown, dried blood off her face and used a less clean piece to pick the pieces of flesh from her hair. With that done, Alice bent over the sink and soaked her hair under the tap, and from her position Alice could see just how red the water was running. After about ten minutes of constant scrubbing and drenching, every part of her hair ran clear and Alice could worry about getting ready. Grabbing the pile of clothes from the table she had placed them on, Alice jumbled through the pile. Pulling a pair of dark gray sweat pants over her panties, Alice shuddered at the thought at wearing someone else's clothes, but figured beggars couldn't be choosers. So with a grimace she pulled the white vest over her head, as well as a thin black cardigan.

Pulling on a pair of discarded white sneakers that just about fit her feet Alice stepped back into the hall. But instead of going back to the room with the people who believed in horror films, she stepped into the main store. The store was made to appear like a hunting lodge, with pine walls and fake animal heads dotted around the walls, and glass cases held weapons from crossbows to shotguns. Letting her fingers run over the cool glass, Alice wondered how they had gotten into thee store. The front door, which was positioned next to a wall length window was in tact and Alice presumed locked. Looking down at a silver pistol, Alice admired the workmanship. Her father had owned a gun just like this. Alice was contemplating pulling it out and using it for protection against either the 'zombies' or the crazy wanna-believers with the shotgun when she heard a loud bang…

(We're gonna leave Alice and her mystery noise now and head to meet Jessica, beautiful and smart she is on the run from Umbrella's new toy. This chapter will introduce the deadly creation that will plague not only Jessica but the rest of the teams, as well as seeing creatures that RE players love to hate. Also chapter three and four gives you a glimpse into the struggles of the two other groups through Jessica's eyes. Read, rate and review!)


	3. Hunted

Why did she wear heels to work? Flat shoes were just as professional, they could be just as sexy. But no she had to wear the heel. It didn't matter that it was a two inch heel, it was still a heel. It was still slowing her down. All these thoughts and more were running through Jessica Harding's mind as she ran down the back streets of Raccoon city. Sexy, professional, geneticist Jessica Harding's life had been perfect this morning, and now not only had she (along with a lot of other people) damned a whole city to a painful death, but she had also done something she had vowed not to do. She had given Umbrella (her bosses) the genetic blue prints to her perfect t-virus monster. It was designed to be near unstoppable, it was designed to be able to hunt for months at a time to find just one target, it was designed to be able to kill ruthlessly quickly or mercilessly slow. She had designed it to do all these things and more, and now it was after her. She had told Umbrella that it wasn't ready and that she would go to the media if they released that thing to track down S.T.A.R.S, and she had thought herself lucky when they released Nemesis instead. But the bastards at Umbrella had decided to do a test run of her B.O.W…mainly to find and kill her. So now instead of fleeing from the t-virus outbreak that had the city in its thrall, Jessica was glad when the crash at the end of the alley turned out to be a zombie. Well maybe glad wasn't the word, but as the staggering infected male walked towards her, followed closely by a larger male Jessica was just glad it wasn't her very own Frankenstein's monster. Her white scientist coat still wrapped around her, Jessica reached into the pocket and pulled out a pistol. It was her only method of protection, and Jessica didn't really like wasting bullets on these lowly creatures, she had to make sure she could still run away from Ares. After all a handgun would be just a step above spitting at her creation.

Widening her feet, and getting in the tea cup grip stance, Jessica aimed at the neck of the closest creature and fired, the recoil tilting her aim, so the bullet took the creature straight in the chin, rocking the mans head backwards and ripping his lower jaw from its hold on his face. Backing up a little Jessica fired two rounds into the second ones neck, causing thick blood to flow from the wound but ultimately not stopping it. At least Ares, when you damaged it…if you could damage it, reacted to pain. She had made sure when they had infected that poor boy with the virus that it would feel pain. Jessica had thought it would help the creature retain some humanity, but if she was being honest hurting it would just make it stronger….more angry. Realizing she could waste her bullets killing these zombies, and not get any closer to fleeing Ares Jessica spun around and fled down another alley, where the one she had come from and the one with the zombies formed a t-junction sort of shape. Rushing to the end, Jessica braced her shoulder and charged at the small wooden door hidden in the shadow of the towering walls that formed part of this dead end. If the door didn't cave in, she would be mauled to death by those creatures, and if she managed to kill them it would only be a matter of time before Ares found her. If she got through this door she could get into a new set of alleys, and though Ares' senses were impeccable it would still have to follow every where her scent went before it found her. Hitting the door once more with her shoulder, Jessica could see the creatures scrambling around the corner in the ungraceful movements they all did when infected with the t-virus. She hated to admit it, but looking at these creatures she felt the small sting of pride. All those scientists had created the t-virus and this was the pinnacle of all their brilliant thinking whilst she alone had created the c-virus template. And her creation, after testing on those teens they had found in the woods had worked perfectly. After only three test runs, it had become fully operational. The four remaining teens…they had been lucky, they had just been shot. It had been quick, but for the one boy…and this she remembered perfectly, with the blond hair and pale blue eyes who could have only been sixteen at a push, it had lasted days .the working virus had taken days to ravage his system and slowly change him. And for four of those nine days he had retained consciousness and had moaned for his sister. Jessica had wanted him to be put under whilst the transformation took place but her superiors were adamant that the boy felt every single moment of it…after all, she had made sure the creation could feel pain.

Her shoulder aching, and the mindless creatures getting closer and closer, Jessica almost cheered with sheer joy when the wood snapped, and the lock gave way, causing the young scientist to fall into the room, but sheer adrenaline allowed her to bound back up in an instant and pushed the door closed, which would cause the mentally challenged creatures a few more minutes of pounding before they broke in, and Jessica was glad that her barge had only broken the lock and not the push mechanism that kept the door in its place. Stepping back, a little after one of the zombies threw its full weight at the door, Jessica pulled a nearby cardboard box in front of the door, the heavy box weighed down by its contents would help her get a much longer head start against the zombies. Turning around, Jessica had to stifle a scream as a figure loomed in front of her. Raising her arms in defense at an attack that this humanoid figure could have given, the young woman was surprised to find that the creature didn't attack. Raising her head whilst her eyes adjusted to the gloom, Jessica smiled…it was a mannequin. She was in some kind of clothes store, and the lifeless figure was adorning some fashion that the Raccoon city residents clearly didn't appreciate, as the mannequin was in the store room. Walking forward, Jessica blindly felt her way through the store room to find a door that would probably lead to the store front. As she pulled the heavy metallic door open, the automatic lighting system kicked in illuminating the store. Stepping into the store, Jessica could see through the large store room, and at the glass doors she could see a group of figures trying to break in attracted by the light. She didn't know if they were human or not but that was none of her concern. She had to escape. Looking back at the door she had just came through, Jessica had to stifle a scream as she saw a distinct pair of claw marks on the wall…they weren't Ares' (he didn't claw walls he demolished them), but she recognized the curvature…Lickers!

Casting her eyes out to the roof of the store, Jess was sure she saw a blur on pink moving across the roof of the store, attracted by the movement at the front of the store. Suddenly the lights stated to flicker, and in the instant of darkness Jessica lost sight of the hideous creature Umbrella had created. If those people were human, they were in for trouble and Jessica turned on her heel and pulled the door to, as the clothing store's lights started to flicker even more. Back in the store room, that was now illuminated by a window to the store front, Jessica hadn't noticed in the gloom. And thankfully, the zombies hadn't gotten through the door yet. Looking around for another exit, Jessica saw a ladder pushed against a wall, leading to an open hatch in the roof. Reluctant to go up in the attic when Lickers were so fond of the height advantage, Jessica climbed shakily into the attic. It was the only way to go, and if she stayed still too long then Ares would find her and she would have been better in there with the lickers…at least they would kill her pretty quickly.


	4. Crossroads

The attic was dark, and the air was thick with dust that the young scientist kicked up as she slowly walked on the thin boards that separated her from a large drop and half a dozen lickers. _'Right, left, right, left'_ Jessica reminded herself, as she shakily tried to make as little noise as possible. She had seem them test the lickers, and she had seen videos from the surveillance cameras all around the city. They could destroy a human in an instant, and would often use sneak tactics to try and catch their prey. Jessica hoped that the group downstairs distracted the Lickers enough so they didn't come up stairs. She couldn't deal with Ares and a nest of lickers! Pacing herself, Jessica had a moment to reflect. Not only on the series of unfortunate events that seemed to be plaguing her but on her incredible luck. She had escaped so far, and she hadn't heard Ares in what seemed like hours and that meant he wasn't close. When he got close to his target, Ares would scream…a terrifyingly loud cry that was crossed with a man screaming, a woman screaming and an animal whining in pain. All those sounds combined and amplified. This scream was for the sole purpose of terrifying the intended target, and letting Umbrella when he was near to the objective. Jessica almost slipped when a scream sounded from downstairs, using a nearby wall to steady herself. That was the scream of someone in pain…that was the scream of a young girl. And for that one moment, Jessica contemplated going downstairs and helping…she could tell them that they should move as little as possible, and that they should keep an eye on the walls and roof. But at the sound of gunshots, and not just one…a practical symphony of thunderbolts, Jessica snapped out of it. She owed nothing to these people…she had just been doing her job, she hadn't wanted to create weapons. She had wanted to be respected in a male dominated world, so when Umbrella had invited her to work as a geneticist on a secret project, she had jumped at the chance. Now, by God, she wished she hadn't…

After about fifteen minutes, during which the gunshots went silent and she heard nothing…no voices to show that the humans had won, and no clicks and random howls that would show the lickers had decimated the small group, Jessica found a wooden door that was slightly ajar, and as Jessica stepped closer she felt a sharp breeze…this door would lead to the roof access. Getting on the roof would allow her to plan a route, escape the lickers and the zombies she had trapped downstairs and get out of this damned city. She had a theory, that her creature wouldn't fare very well in the heat, it's exposed skin and organs wouldn't react very well to heat. Not that getting a sun tan would kill Ares, or even slow it down much…but it would be slower and groggier, allowing her to constantly run. It wouldn't be much of a life but…maybe she could find a way to get into the Umbrella head office and plead with them to stop it with one of their super creatures. Then she'd promise to create even more monsters for them and she'd be damned for the rest of eternity for serving a company that practically worked with the devil, testing their dangerous B.O.W's on humans, and then planning to sell them to terrorists. Some days that didn't seem to bad…she didn't believe in God, and Hell was just a made up story so she had nothing to fear…but other days…most days she felt like Umbrella was like a cancer growing inside her and that one day it would corrupt her and then she'd end up like one of the other freaks that she worked with. Mad scientists that wanted to create bigger and badder creatures so they could beat their friends, and boast over the water cooler. Umbrella employees didn't generally have souls, and though she didn't feel bad for leaving those survivors to face the lickers unaware, she still had a soul…she was almost sure of it. If not, then she wouldn't have stood up to Umbrella right?

Pulling the door open, Jessica could see at the top of the staircase a second door…and beyond that, she thought to herself, salvation. Putting a hand to her head, Jessica tightened her pony tail making sure her brown hair didn't get in her face when she was on the roof. She knew Umbrella creatures…or creatures that Umbrella theorized would evolve through their experiments, could fly and wanted to be ready. Pushing her glasses as far up her nose as she could, and tightening her lab coat Jessica slowly made her way up the stairs, her gun in hand just in case. Pushing the heavier, metallic door open Jessica breathed in some of the cool night air, and immediately regretted it. The smell in the air was a combination of decaying flesh and smoke. The city was coming apart at the seams, and Jessica was glad that she had at least brought a gun. The roof was large, and Jessica slowly walked to the edge and peered down. The glass door that the survivors had come through was now swarmed with the undead, they weren't in the building but were banging on the glass front and eventually they would break it down. One of the group, was probably injured and hiding from the Lickers…and the zombies could sense the human and were coming for the blood. Stepping back from the edge, Jessica surveyed the hell that Raccoon city had become and shuddered. Walking around the edge in an attempt to try and find a way down, Jessica came up moot. Disheartened, Jessica could see most of Raccoon city from this vantage point, and it wasn't a pretty site. The church had smoke rising from it, she could see a housing estate that had hundreds of figures milling in a large, shambling horde. And just down the street from her there was a black cloud surrounding a building she knew for _'Acorn's Hunting Lodge. _Acorn's was a hunting shop that sold a variety of weapons…including the pistol that Jessica clutched in her hand. Perplexed by what this cloud was, Jessica stepped closer and tried to peer as far over the edge as was safely possible. The cloud was like a shoal of fish, moving in rapid movements and making a show of it. The shape was completely unrecognizable to the young scientist and she wished that the crows would stop squawking…_ 'Oh shit…'_ Jessica realized that the squawking came from the cloud…the crows were attacking. They must have eaten infected flesh.

Taking a step back, Jessica heard the huge crack of glass breaking. At first she had thought the zombies had broken through the mall doors and she would be trapped upstairs, but casting a glance to the hunting shop Jessica saw the clod seemingly disappear, as the infected crows leaked into the building through the hole in the window. But Jessica didn't get to observe the spectacle anymore when she heard a squawk just behind her head, and with reflexes that surprised the scientific girl she dropped to her knees as the crow sailed over her head. A straggler crow was attacking her, and it would keep attacking until she was dead and it could eat its fill of her flesh. Dropping to her side, and tucking her legs in, Jessica avoided another attack by the crow. Pulling her pistol up, Jessica fired at the flying nightmare but missed by a clear mile. Pushing to her feet and backing up, Jessica waited until the creature flew at her once more and fired just before it got into touching range. The bullet ripped through the small bird, twisting inside and pulling out a lot of meat with it as it continued into the sky. The black bird however dropped to the roof lifeless. At first Jessica was a little pleased at her victory over the crow, until she heard squawking…and not just one. Casting her eyes to the sky, Jessica could see her gunshots had attracted a few more crows. Spinning and running for the stair well door, Jessica had to dive onto her front as the crows got closer, causing the birds to fly over her head. Standing up, Jessica had to run the opposite way from the door which the crows conveniently hovered over. Stopping quite a bit before the edge, Jessica aimed at the crows, which were no longer a cloud, but all moving individually. Cursing their independent minds, Jessica fired twice as the crows flew at her. Both shots missed, and then the crows were upon her. Covering her face with her hands, Jessica's hands were in a considerable amount of pain as the crows pecked at her flesh. Stumbling blindly around the roof, the only way Jessica escaped a painful death being eaten by crows was the fact that she fell off the roof.

(Dun, dun, duhhhh. Reviews are appreciated and send me a message with creatures you want to see. I'm also thinking about creating more than three groups and if you have suggestions for characters (Oc's or even a minor canon I can write for) send me a message. I hope you like this, next up meet Alex the soldier and his small band of heroes as they ride around Raccoon city and try to stay alive. Alex's story will last for two chapters like all the others, and in the second one we will catch our first glimpse of Ares!)


	5. Guilt

A loud shot ran gin his ears, causing young Alex Thornton to swerve the borrowed four by four, almost crashing into a burning taxi. Behind him Matty Fisher kept firing, his high powered rifle taking out zombies left right and centre. And though Matty had a mighty fine shot, and was able to pick the living dead off easier than shooting fish in a barrel but each time he shot, Alex swerved and for the next few minutes Lisa moaned about the swerving giving her motion sickness. Alex had been riding around picking up survivors, when he'd found Lisa being attacked by a zombie…and something in her head was broken. Now everything was horrid, and everything made her feel sick and everything made her want to cry. Well…at least he hoped that something in her brain had snapped at the horror of the situation they were in, because if not she was an insufferable woman. And his mother had always taught him that young girls deserved talking to in a proper way, because after all you could end up marrying a girl if you were polite to her, but for the twenty three year old the moaning woman was just too much

"Shut up!" He barked into the back seat, causing himself to get a glare from Mona. Optimistic, beautiful and smart Mona was everything that a man could ask for in a woman…other than the fact that she was pregnant. And not just tiny baby growing in her tummy pregnant, eight months and strong pregnant. Her huge stomach was cradled in her hands as she stared at Alex menacingly for shouting at Lisa. Mona was a force to be reckoned with and considered herself as a mother to the group…and though she was sweet and kind and caring, she had another fault besides the huge baby in her tummy. She had no memory of her life before she woke in a motel just outside Raccoon city. A graze on her head, told Alex that she had fallen and bumped it but for some reason her waking up in this city, at this time worried Alex. Not because he believed that Mona had caused the zombie outbreak or anything. He knew for certain his pregnant friend, or the weeping girl sat next to her, or even the redneck with a sniper rifle had not caused this outbreak. Because it had been him.

Turning sharply, Alex tried to keep his attention on the road, and not the last few days. He had let everyone down, and was trying to make it up. It would help his conscious if he saved as many people as he could, and then at least he could say those people were alive thanks to him. And maybe that would counter the fact over a thousand people were dead thanks to him too. Shoving that to the deep recesses of his mind where everything else went, Alex almost crashed into the back of a car when his eyes were drawn to a bright light emerging from a glass shop window. Now Alex knew that in a five seater car, he couldn't really pick up another couple of people, and the chances of a lone person surviving were pretty slim in a town like this one. But guilt, heroism and a sense that if he died saving someone, he'd be redeemed he pulled the four by four to a close.

"There's someone in there…we have to go in, it'll just take a sec" Alex reassured his small team, though they all stared at him skeptically. Another shot rang out, as Michael fired another high powered bullet into a zombie, who crumbled as the top half of its head disappeared. The bang brought Alex back into the here and now, he had people to protect and the three of them sitting alone in the car would draw attention of the undead kind. Pulling his handgun from the leather holster on his hip, Alex stepped out of the car and opened the back door that was beside Mona. Holding his free hand out expectantly, Alex ignored the fearful look on her face…these people were his to protect, and he would protect them as well as he could. And he couldn't do that when they were sat in the car.

"If you come in with me, we can get supplies and those things won't be drawn here." Taking a deep breath, the pregnant Latina brushed her raven hair behind her ears and took his hand. Even when pregnant, Mona dressed well Alex mused whilst she took his outstretched hand, even in an emergency situation where she had no recollection of what had happened in her life her black leather jacket, aqua t-shirt and jeans went very well together. For some reason Alex couldn't imagine this woman in any frumpy maternity wear. Joined in time by Lisa and Michael, the foursome set off inside the store, the muscular Alex still in his work attire, broke through the glass door. Black trousers, black boots a black t-shirt and nothing else but his bare arms. He had, had a jacket over his t-shirt and really wished that he had kept it on so he could protect his arms from the bitter cold night but he had to take it off…Umbrella was a symbol he didn't want to be associated with.

After a few barges by Alex, the glass door gave way and the foursome made their steady way into the clothing shop. Alex wasn't a Raccoon City native, and had never been in this place before but he presumed it was like every other clothing store in a small American town. Clothes in the front, store room/staff room towards the back. Pushing forward, Alex was only able to wonder briefly about a faint clicking sound before he heard a loud scream. And then the lights started to flicker. Spinning around and aiming his gun, Alex was momentarily stunned by the lack of light giving whatever had attacked the group a chance to lunge at him, knocking him to the floor. Whatever the thing was, it wasn't human…Alex could tell by the texture of the skin and the clawed hands. Firing three times into the creature's chest, Alex could feel blood and heavy things dripping down onto his stomach, and the hand that was holding the creature away from his face by the neck had gone numb. The creature must have scratched at it, and the pain was too bad for Alex's brain to comprehend. Raising the gun higher, Alex fired this time into the creatures neck and lower jaw and no matter how tough a creature, your gonna go down after something like that. And the creature did, a small scream escaping its lips before it fell down on top of Alex, covering his whole front in blood. Rolling the heavier creature off of him, Alex stood quickly, quickly regaining his senses before he once again ended up on the floor, this time by his own accord, rolling onto the floor as Michael fired at something on the roof and it fell down with a large thud. He didn't know how many more of these things they were, but above the gasping of the dying creature Michael had shot, and the moans of someone in serious pain Alex could hear a faint set of clawed footsteps, coming from the far side of the store. Holding his gun in his left hand, as his right hand slowly became less and less numb and the pain started to make gripping his pistol hard, Alex realized that if a creature attacked there was only a small chance that he'd hit it. His good arm being compromised and all…

Quickly walking forward, Alex found himself jumping at every mannequin and every item of clothing that had been knocked on the floor was starting to look vaguely like those creatures. And just when Alex had given up finding the creature, the lights came back on and the final licker crouched in front of the wounded soldier, and using its tongue started to choke the life out of him…


	6. Shadows

With a vice like quality, the things tongue wrapped around Alex's neck, the red hot weight squeezing slowly. Each second drew the young soldier nearer, and nearer to death as the licker tried to strangle the young man, and just as small black spots had started to appear in his vision the creature howled and the tongue fell slack, uncoiling slowly from his neck, the lubrication of the creatures acrid smelling saliva allowing it to slip gently to the floor. Dropping to his knees, Alex's hands rushed to his throat, massaging the tender skin and all the while he was thinking _'I have to get out of here, I need to protect them!' _His eye sight coming slowly around, Alex let his eyes wander to the creature that had, had him in it's deadly lock…the once menacing creature looked kind of pathetic, with half its face missing and three holes riddling it's back, the high powered rifle that his red neck had fired making sure you could see through to the floor through the creature's body. Staggering to his feet, Alex gave his only male companion a curt nod, before jogging off to find the others. He had heard a scream, so that meant either Mona or Lisa had either been hit, or worse. First Alex spotted Mona, cradled on the floor covered in blood and crying and his heart dropped, fearing that the pregnant woman was injured. But as he stepped closer to her, he saw the dead body of Lisa sprawled across the floor. Her body was ripped from her crotch to her neck, a line of red and pink flesh was exposed through the center of her body where the creatures tongue had ripped her almost in two. Raising a hand to his face to cover his nose from the smell, which was coming from Lisa's perforated bowel, Alex crouched down beside the girl and closed her eyes, giving her a small piece of dignity by dropping one of the winter coats that a mannequin wore over her destroyed body. The young girl, who Alex had only recently complained about was now lying there lifeless, and in his head the young soldier wished that he could swap places with her. She didn't deserve this…he did.

Standing, and wiping the blood onto a pair of hung up jeans, Alex walked to Mona and extended a hand to her, which she took and used to pull herself up. "I tried to stop the bleeding, I really did but there was so much…and she was crying…and oh God" To stop the mumbling, Alex pulled the girl closer to him, cradling her head between his arm and his neck, breathing in the sweet smell of her skin. After a minute or two, Michael informed them that they couldn't go back to the car, as the front of the store was now surrounded by undead creatures wanting to eat their brains. Taking charge and letting go of the beautiful Latina, Alex led the now much smaller group to the back of the store and to the back door exit. In the back room, stacked with mannequins that wore clothes no longer in fashion, Alex at first contemplated going to the roof and trying to signal a helicopter but at the last minute changed his mind. But most of the vehicles that still had living people in them were civilian or umbrella, and Alex didn't want any of them coming to his recue. So with a heavy heart, he shifted the items that blocked the fire escape and prepared for the assault he knew was coming. Those things had taken him by surprise because they were stealthy and monstrous, but zombies moaned and banged on doors. Alex knew they were out there, and by having Mona pull the door open allowed both himself and Michael to stand in the doorway, and each of them fired into the zombies that were lunging forward, taking the chance to grab at the humans who they so desperately wanted to taste. Stepping out into the alleyway, the threesome at first turned left and tried to run that way, only to find that the way was blocked by a chain mesh fence. Through the fence, Alex could see a figure on the ground start to stir, and was prepared to ask Michael to use his sniper to take the zombie out, saving them or some poor soul just a little hassle, when the woman looked at them with an intense gaze the zombies didn't have. She was alive!

She was also beautiful, her brown hair was tied up though a few loose strands now hung by her pale face, a white doctor's coat hugged her delicate frame and she had some small heels on, which surprised Alex. For such a conservatively dressed person, the heels didn't seem to fit. Alex was definitely attracted to this mysterious female, but the pain that was now slowly seeping into his arm distracted him from thinking much more on her looks. The licker that had done this was now dead, but the pain was just beginning as Alex felt the adrenaline leave his system, and in its wake aches and pains that he had forgotten about resurfaced. Looking down at his arm, Alex saw a large open wound, almost exactly the same as Lisa's mortal wound, but smaller. It stretched from his wrist to his elbow, and though it looked terrible was actually less painful than the ache in his throat. Whilst there was no wound, Alex could see in his reflection in a nearby glass pane that his throat was almost black with bruising, and the skin was tender and sore to touch. Turning back to the woman, Alex had a chance to see her turn and sprint around the corner before he could force his sore voice to shout for her.

"We need to find her, she could be in trouble" Alex shouted back to his crew, who were stood at his back. Spinning, and catching them a little off guard, causing both to yelp a little with fear, Alex smiled. It had been a long time since he had smiled, and the fact that his turning quickly had scared them just as much as any of the other horrors they had seen.

"We can't get through that thing…maybe we should try and go around?" Mona chipped in, her face twisted in a smile that Alex knew was false. Nodding, the three started to walk towards the other end of the alley, hoping that it turned so they could follow the girl but they were stopped in their tracks by a horrible sound. Crossed between a man screaming, a woman screaming, an animal howling and the sound of ripping flesh the trio couldn't see the source of the scream, but could smell decaying flesh. Alex knew this was probably one of Umbrella's bigger creatures. Taking aim, Alex shouted at the others to run as he fired three times into the creature that was still masked in shadow. Hearing a thick thud, and another scream Alex knew his shots had hit and had caused pain, but not much. Sensing movement to his left, Alex had time to duck as a hand the size of a whole child, attached to a pathetically thin pink arm swung past with incredible force. Looking to his left, he could see Mona too had ducked out of the way, but Matthew hadn't been so lucky.

The hit knocked him into a nearby wall, and with a scream he fell to the floor, his rifle sliding away as the owner landed in a heap on the floor, not moving. Firing twice more into the creature, Alex quickly crawled to his friend. Feeling for a pulse, Alex sighed with relief when the he felt a small pulse beat against the man's skin. The larger man was now curled up in a ball, his gray jacket and pale jeans had blood sprayed on them, but Alex knew that was the blood of the creatures that attacked them in the store not his own. Shaking his friend, the older man stirred, but as he woke he began screaming about his leg. Looking down, Alex felt a little sick when he saw that the appendage was twisted the wrong way.

"Come on big guy!" Alex said as he used his good arm to lift the man off the floor. But just as they got their footing, a shadow passed over them as the creature's long thin arm swing down again, this time trying to swat them like flies. However the appendage didn't reach its target as a loud shot rang through the night, and the hand recoiled with a finger less than when it had first attacked. Glancing behind him, he could see Mona wielding the rifle like she knew what she was doing, had fired at the creature and saved them. Dragging the injured red neck towards Mona, Alex nodded at the woman as she kept her eyes trained on the shadow the creature was still hidden in. Backing away as a three, they watched in amazement as the creature didn't follow them but instead its tremendously long arm reached out, and used a high up window to get a hand hold, smashing the glass out of the frame with a moan. Another hand extended from the darkness, and the creatures long spider like arms pulled it up the buildings side, its equally long and thin legs gaining a foot hold, and pushing it towards the top of the building. Still hidden in darkness, the three couldn't see the creatures body but Alex, and the others he presumed, were glad to not get more of a glimpse at the creature. Huddling together, the three started to slowly walk down an alley furthest away from the direction the creature had crawled.

(And that's Ares…well his arms. I was going to go for a tyrant like creature, but decided to think of a totally new creature [believe me when we finally see its full form you'll be a little in awe]. We'll leave Alex and his tiny band of followers, and join back with Alice and the hunting shop crew. These guys have seen the least action of the three groups so I'm gonna start dishing some good old style resident evil action on them. Wait! Didn't back in chapter four, Jessica see a mysterious cloud surround the shop?)


	7. Loss

A loud bang sounded, echoing around the small store front and causing Alice to emit a small scream. Her eyes already adjusted to the dark, scanned the store front but could see nothing out of the ordinary. Alice held her breath as her fingertips rested against the cool glass, in the dark store front she could barely see her reflection in the glass pane, and was kind of glad. She had gotten drunk, had sex, been attacked and then locked herself in a building with a bunch of insane people…Alice could tell that she would not look her best when she got to a mirror. And if what these people were saying was true, then something was wrong with this town and she'd probably die. What! What was she thinking, of course they were insane. Zombies didn't exist…but as the blond thought it over, it did kind of make sense. The way that Adam and his friends had been killed, yet Alice hadn't been asked to view the body, the way people had been going missing for weeks, and that man who had attacked Declan. At first Alice had thought 'drunken, homeless guy stoned off his face and going cannibal' but his eyes were void of any human emotion, and his skin had felt waxy when she had grasped his unnaturally strong forearms. If she was going to believe that zombies were real, and that they were following people trying to eat them, then she wanted to go back and stand with the group…after all they had a gun. But then again she was surrounded by guns, and with a grimace Alice used her fist to break through the glass, and then using her elbow she popped most of the glass out of the frame. Reaching in, she extracted the heavy gun and smiled…much better.

Alice was stood the serving counter, reaching for a box of ammo when the second bang sounded, followed quickly by bang three and four. Shoving a box in each of her pockets, Alice hopped down off the counter and walked straight into the muscled chest of Louis, who was flanked by the rest of the small group. Backing up to allow them inside the store front, Alice peered through the large window for an assailant outside that would cause that repeated banging, but saw nothing.

"What's that banging?" Jay asked, voicing the concern each of them felt. Shaking his head, Louis stepped closer to the window than Alice had dared go, and peered out into the darkness. Looking back at the band of civilians that he had decided to protect, the Latino just shook his head once more to show he couldn't see anything. Alice, trusting that If anything nasty was coming for them that Louis would have seen it, pulled out a box of ammo from her pocket and started to load the gun, discarding the now half filled box in favor for a fresh one that was on a lower shelf. Smiling at Kim to try and break the tension, Alice was given a glare back that said '_I'm alpha female, your nothing'_ and all she could really do was smile at the girl. If they came to blows, Kim would wipe the floor with her, and she didn't fancy taking her chances running from zombies with a black eye.

"Why don't you all get a weapon…" Louis said, and like trained animals the team set to work, each grabbing a weapon that they could find and bringing it back to Louis so he could tell them how to hold, shoot it properly. They all had pistols similar to the one she had picked up, except from Jen, who grabbed a crossbow gingerly. When they were all armed, Alice noticed they unintentionally formed a circle around Louis, as if waiting for orders…and it was then, in a silent moment that the shop descended into darkness.

Screaming, Alice grabbed the closest thing to her, which happened to be Louis' arm, which he shrugged from her grasp and simply shouted

"Hey!" to stop the panic that had set in when the lights had gone out. Pushing his way past her, Alice saw Louis disappear into the darkness that surrounded the group and come back a few seconds later, and as he did the lights came on. Not the natural light from the moon and streetlights, but the fluorescent lights that the shop used to illuminate its contents. Reassured, the group visibly relaxed all except Jay, who had spotted what a few seconds later Alice did, and slowly, one by one the rest of the group did. The darkness had not come from the breaking of the street lights like Alice had thought, but the window was blocked by a black curtain. A twitching, shifting curtain of darkness. And now that the curtain had descended the bangs increased, into a symphony of noise and slowly cracks started to form on the thin glass…

"Crows" was the only word Alice had heard Martin say, and the only word that any of them got to say before the window shattered and all hell broke loose.

The birds swarmed in, and the group as one rushed for the door, with Kim leading followed by Martin, Louis and then Jay. Alice was next, and the young blond got through the door and was about to pull Jen through the door so she could shut it when the swarm of crow hit Jen all at once, her thin frame getting lifted easily into the air and slamming into the wall behind the counter. Her screams only lasted for a few seconds, and when they stopped Alice slammed the door and ran down the corridor toward the shouts of Jay. And as she moved, the door behind her burst open and Alice had to sprint as the black swarm followed her closely, and turning the corner on a corridor, Alice screamed as she dropped down into the cellar, and with a bang Louis and Jay pulled the trap door closed. For thirty seconds, the group sat in a stunned silence, each breathing heavily and silently mourning the loss of a member. It was during this silence that Alice noticed the glint of a wedding band on Martins finger…so that was the 'good lady' that the zombies had grabbed. Martin had lost his wife, and now the group had lost a member, each sitting in a circle in the small basement, the only sound was the scratching of the birds on the wooden floor above their heads, their squawking and a dull ripping sound that Alice was only fifty percent sure wasn't in her head. She had left Jen, when she could have fired into the swarm and tried…the ripping sound was the guilt in her head. And she deserved it.


	8. Action

"We have to keep moving…" Alice wasn't sure who uttered those words, whether it was Kim being heartless, or Louis playing detective or Jay just trying to keep moving. It didn't matter who said it because it was true. No matter what happened they had to keep moving. Casting her eyes around the 'basement' they had landed in, Alice really wished she could say something to raise the mood. They had lost both Jen and the other lady, and now they were all probably feeling as shit as Alice was feeling for not saving her. As Louis stood and helped Kim to her feet, Alice followed suit, extremely glad she was in these trainers and not her heels, as walking in them was pretty difficult…never mind running. With Louis not waiting to see if everyone was okay, he set off walking through the aisles made by shelves filled with stock for the store above, he made his way to the back of the room, to a door. Almost as if he knew it was there, not wasting energy seeing if it was unlocked he simply kicked it open, keeping his gun trailed on the entrance to the door. Stepping through, Kim and Martin followed leaving Alice alone with Jay. Smiling weakly at him, he rubbed her arm before walking past, comforting her much more than any words could. She knew that no one in the group, not even Kim who seemed to have taken a dislike to her, blamed her for the death…so why did she still feel so lousy?

The door lead into a small room, with a ladder stood in the center, the red paint sickeningly reminding Alice of the blood that had coated her skin what seemed like years ago. Louis went first, using one hand, the other holding the gun, on the barrel for better balance. There was only a small light coming from a weak bulb in the corner, so Alice couldn't see where the ladder led but Louis wasn't screaming so she presumed that it wasn't anything dangerous. The rest of the group slowly made their way up the ladder, and as always so it seemed, Alice drew up the rear. The ladder, actually lead to a sewer grate, that Louis had slid to the side to reveal Raccoon city in all her glory. The small group was stood in the middle of quite a busy road, but no cars approached them. What did approach them though were people...hordes of people. All of them stained in gore and each walking with a distinctive limp. They all stood around the grate not moving, each looking in a different direction and each spotting a group of these people walking towards them. Surrounded what she supposed were zombies, the group inched closer together no one wanting to move to attract attention to themselves. It was Louis who broke the freeze calling out

"This way" and running forward, the group racing to follow him as he ran towards an alley way, firing at the people stood in his way. Holding the handgun she had picked up, Alice didn't fire but instead focused on avoiding the hands that grabbed at her as she ran past, feeling movement at the back of her neck as the creatures got closer and closer. Reaching the alley way, Alice ran full throttle into Jay and the others who had stopped.

"What the fu…" Alice began but stopped, because over the groups heads she could see a similar swarm in front that was gathering behind. Stood in the center of an alley surrounded by crazed people covered in blood was a pretty difficult situation, especially since neither walls surrounding them had doorways, but Alice was distracted from their life or death dilemma by a shadow passing over head. Looking up, Alice for a moment thought it was a giant foot or something but was distracted by what the foot dragged from the rooftop, sending a large water tower hurtling down towards the helpless group.

"Move!" Was all Alice could call out, as the water tower hit the roof of the opposite building to which it was previously stood with an enormous crash, causing bricks to hurtle down into the crowds of the undead, before getting stuck a little between the two walls and then dropping once again. Pushing Jay forward, Alice dived backwards as the water tower struck the floor with an explosion of cement, metal and water. Scrambling to her feet, Alice could see Kim struggling to her feet, but no one else. That either meant they were lying crushed under the water tower or they were on the other side. But Alice had bigger things to worry about! Hearing Kim call out Alice turned to see the girl now struggling with one of the creatures, holding her hands over its forehead and neck to stop it biting into her. Firing twice, Alice managed to hit the taller man twice in his face, causing him to drop to the floor and stop wrestling to get the girl. Backing up as the crowd got closer and closer, Alice could see Kim doing the same…they couldn't go any further because of the water tower, and they most certainly couldn't run past the swarm that was getting closer and closer by the minute. Looking quickly around, Alice grabbed Kim's arm and dragged her to the nearest wall, which was cracked and falling to pieces under the pressure of the water tower that had collided with it. There was a hole between the solid brick and the water tower, that would just about fit a small person through, so glad the boys weren't there to have to squeeze through she slipped through the crack, followed quickly by Kim. The younger woman screamed as a creature grabbed her arm, but using her other raised the handgun she had acquired and fired through the hole until the creature let go.

Dashing further into the room, Alice could feel Kim just a step behind her, as if she didn't want to lose Alice in the darkness. Groans were coming through the hole, and multiple arms were reaching through, blocking off the only light that could come into the room. Putting her gun into her waistband, Alice turned to Kim, speaking to her in the dim light.

"Kim we have to find the others, if we stay near the wall we should have enough light to see by and we can see where the boys are." So slowly, using the light from the luminous sign on the wall opposite, Alice leading and behind her Kim, the two found another hole, this one much smaller and only tall enough to crawl through. Dropping to her stomach, Alice peered through the gap, looking for evidence if the fellow members of their group had made it.

"You see anything?" Kim asked, crouching beside Alice. And all Alice did was shake her head, because she didn't all that remained were half a dozen of those creatures riddled with bullets, a few more simply walking around aimlessly. Alice was about to give up ever finding the others, when she noticed a trail of blood leading out of the alley and towards a building on the street the alley way opened into. One of the boys was injured and they were hiding.

"I think their in the store over the street, I think one of them is injured…" Alice whispered, hoping not to attract attention from the few undead that Louis and the others had left behind.

"Lets go then" Kim said in a hushed tone, and Alice pulled out her gun before army crawling into the alley way. Staying on all fours once she was out, she backed up enough to allow Kim to get through but didn't stand. Once both girls were through, Alice pointed to the store opposite and nodded, holding up three fingers and counting down with them, and at zero both girls stood and ran, causing the creatures to turn and pursue. Running across the road, Alice had to stop and let Kim run into her, as a truck, driving madly in the middle of the road, rushed past almost killing both girls, and going further to collide with a police car. Looking down, Alice swore she saw a girl in red run into an alley way, but didn't dwell as Kim was pulling her hand, and not wanting to break their uneasy alliance or indeed get eaten by the pursuing zombies, Alice ran forward to the store. Pushing the door open, Alice and Kim raced in before slamming the door and working together to slide a shelving unit filled with cleaning products in front of the door.

Looking into the dark room, Alice couldn't see much but heard a small male voice call out her name so walked further into the store. Navigating with her hands outstretched to avoid colliding into things, Alice finally reached the source of the voice. Crouched behind the counter was Jay, crying and cradling Louis' injured body. The Latino was bleeding from his stomach and shoulder, and looked pale. Looking around Alice couldn't see Martin but she could hear thuds that were not only coming from the front of the store, but from above the shop.

(Sorry for the long break guys, I lost my computer and then when I got a new one I lost my internet. I'm going to keep going with this story, and thought id give you all an action packed chapter to make up for the ten month gap. Explosions, blood, zombies, a sight of Ares' leg…what more could you ask? Next were moving onto Jessica who is hoping to never see a certain monsters leg. Just for you geography fans right now Alice and her group are in the store next to the clothes store Alex and his gang were in, so Alex and co are now pretty close to Alice and co, separated by a wall. Ares climbed the wall to chase Jessica, and is following her as she ran away from Alex, and Ares was pursuing her which is why it crawled across the rooftops and knocked down the water tower. Gettit? And I think you all should know which character dressed in red sees a truck crash into a police car?)


	9. Closer

Catching hold of a fire escape, Jessica's fall was briefly interrupted before her body weight pulled her hand from its grip and sent her plummeting to the ground. The brief grip on the fire escape meant Jessica didn't break all her bones and die writing on the floor. However this didn't mean that she got off scot free. Her head was bleeding from the back where it had struck the floor, her left arm was numb (which Jess knew was just the adrenaline stopping the brain from receiving pain signals, but that didn't mean they weren't there). Thankfully her feet and legs were undamaged, and her right hand was still capable of clutching her gun, which was now lying a few feet from her in the alley way. _Up…up_ Jessica urged herself, and slowly her body responded, staggering to her feet, and though her head stung like a son of a bitch, she kept going. Grabbing her gun from the floor, Jessica looked back down the alley to see if her scream from the fall had attracted any unwanted infected, and was glad to see this alley only had one entrance, the other blocked by a fence. Through the fence, the scientist could see a trio of people stood around the doorway, and a man looking directly at her. Freezing, Jessica prepared herself to duck out of the way if he shot her, mistaking her for a zombie but he didn't. Distracted for a second, Jessica took her chance and ran away, turning the corner blindly and almost colliding with one of umbrella's undead citizens. The middle aged woman was decaying around the face, and had a few large chinks taken from her considerable midsection, which presumably transmitted the infection. The alleyway was small, so Jessica couldn't outmaneuver the creature, instead raising her gun and firing. However the scientist forgot that she was now firing one handed and the recoil was greatly increased. So instead of hitting the woman in the face the bullet sailed harmlessly over her head, not only allowing the woman to stagger towards Jessica but alerting every zombie in the near radius of her presence.

The undead woman grabbed at Jessica's left arm, squeezing tightly and causing the freshly injured limb to sear with pain, causing the young scientist to drop her gun, and her legs to give way. The woman's grip seemed to have taken all the adrenaline from her body, and Jessica was now in not only a terrible situation but in terrible pain. Dropping to her knees, Jessica used her right hand to hold the creatures neck, keeping the jaws away from her, and allowing her to get her bearing enough to kick the woman's shin, causing her to topple into the wall and release Jessica. Jumping up, the doctor dashed past the woman, hopping over her legs and racing out of the alley way. She was now in a street, and though she knew that taking main routes would be dangerous because they would be populated with many of umbrellas victims, she also knew she had spend too much time falling and getting stopped, and if she didn't keep moving Ares would catch up with her. And almost as if it could read her mind, the beast howled its twisted, grotesque cry that resounded whenever it reached near its target. It was coming from behind her, which meant that the creature had probably decimated the trio she had seen through the fence, and was now on its way to her. The small alley ways gave her more time as Ares would have to climb, but that wouldn't slow him down much he could scale buildings pretty quickly. Ares was one of the more human looking of Umbrella scientist's creations. It…he was like a stretched out human, abnormally long limbs, and neck with only above average body size. Standing still for a moment, Jessica was shocked from her thoughts by a hand gripping her calf. Stepping quickly forward, she pulled her foot from the now crawling creatures mouth and delivered a quick kick to its face before turning and running through the streets. She could see the undead everywhere, and even a large explosion sounding didn't shock her enough to turn her face away from the street. Though the undead in the street were surprisingly sparse, they were following two humans, one injured and the other dragging him. Dodging through the undead, Jessica almost turned into an alley, but stopped herself. The alleyway was blocked by rubble, and zombies littered the small section that wasn't covered in brick and scrap metal. Keeping running along the street, Jessica once more heard the unearthly cry of the creature, this time coming from almost directly above her. Looking up, she could see a large pink elbow on the top of the building. With the undead surrounding her, and worryingly getting closer, Ares couldn't smell her as well as usual, but he would pick up her scent in time, if these zombies didn't get her first. As a truck careened past, Jessica took her chance as three zombies were crushed and ran through the gap that made into another alley way.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" she screamed into the night as Ares once more cried, presumably still on the roof sniffing her out. Dodging past two walking and one crawling undead, Jessica reached the next street only to find a crowd of zombies surrounding j's bar, a place she used to frequent. As some charged inside, Jessica thought she saw people jumping from roof to roof, but was distracted when a car pulled up in front of her. It was a sports car, and the driver was hidden behind blacked out window. Now usually being a clever girl, Jess wouldn't get into a car whether a stranger asked her to or not, but Ares was behind her and there were zombies littering the street, so she had to get away. Opening the door, and sliding in, Jessica was almost flung from her seat as the car sped off, and turned a sharp corner. Looking over the driver, he looked like the type you'd expect to see in a car like this. He was wearing a suit, with no tie and his shirt open to the center of his chest. His dark hair was stylishly short and he wore sunglasses

"Thanks, those things would have…"Jessica began but she was cut off as the driver turned sharply around another corner, and then started his own thread of conversation

"What's your name?" he asked, and though she rarely lied, she answer with a simple

"Sarah…" because no matter how many monsters umbrella send after you, they'll eventually send people to back it up. After all Jessica held secrets that could take umbrella down.

"Well Sarah, how's about me and you go for a little ride?" he said, and instead of barking questions at her he said it playfully, and Jessica almost cracked a smile but her luck once again ran out, as the car shuddered to a halt…two blocks from where she started. Great!


End file.
